Queenstown tennis prodigy Kai Milburn’s distinguished himself by winning four of his five singles matches at a recent under-16 Junior Davis Cup pool tournament in Kazakhstan.
The 16-year-old captained New Zealand’s three-man team who beat Pakistan and Indonesia but lost to the host country, Uzbekistan and Chinese Taipei — finishing 10th out of 16 teams spread amongst four Asia/Oceania pools.
Mark Milburn, Kai’s dad and coach, took the NZ team after their original coach pulled out for personal reasons.
He says his son’s tennis was ‘‘the best I’ve seen him play, easily, it was next-level’’.
The only singles game Kai dropped was his first match when he used borrowed rackets and shoes after his luggage got delayed — his opponent also went on to win every game he played.
‘‘When he got his own kit he just turned it around,’’ Mark says.
Kai was also playing on clay, which he’s not used to, in hot, very dry conditions.
‘‘The good thing about Kai is he’s got the ability to adapt from hardcourt to clay, so that’s a huge advantage down the track,’’ Mark says.
Over the next few months he’ll be playing International Tennis Federation tournaments in Australia and Japan to try to lift his U18 ranking points.
Meanwhile, his brother Dan, 15, who was the NZ U16 team’s non-travelling reserve, has been selected for the NZ U15 team who’ll travel to Australia’s Gold Coast late next month for the Australian Teams Championships.
Milburn brothers dominate tennis awards
Champs: Tennis club award winners included, from left, Dan Milburn, Tammy Smith, Santi Marshall and Kai Milburn
Milburn brothers Kai, 16, and Dan, 15, predictably took the major honours at the Queenstown Tennis Club’s 2022/ ’23 prizegiving held at club sponsor Lone Star restaurant last Sunday.
Kai was named senior player of the year, while Dan was named junior player of the year.
Other prize winners included:
● Junior girl singles: Adele Necasova
● Junior boy singles: Haruya Higuchi
● Ladies singles champ: Santi Marshall
● Ladies doubles champs: Marshall and Tammy Smith
● Men’s doubles champs: Doug Bohaboy and Kai Milburn
● Twilight premier champs: Teresa Chapman and Zdenek Necas
● Twilight A-grade champions: Anna Caudle and Stephen McAteer
